Quackwatch Home Page

Web Site Evaluation Index

General Articles

• Prudent Use of Health Information on the Internet (to be posted)
• Signs of a "Quacky" Web Site
• Fifteen Ways to Spot an Internet Bandit
• Online Health Quizzes (to be posted)

Guideline Issues

• AMA Guidelines for Medical and Health Information Sites (link to JAMA)
• HONcode Principles: What Do They Signify?
• HONcode Violators
• Untrustworthy Organizations in the Healthfinder Database
• URAC Violators
• Web Site Ratings Systems Questioned

Links to Highly Recommended Sites

• American Council on Science and Health (ACSH)
• Chirobase: Quackwatch's skeptical guide to chiropractic history, theories, and current practices
• Internet Health Pilot
• MLM Watch: Quackwatch's guide to multilevel marketing
• National Council Against Health Fraud (NCAHF)
• Links to Skeptical Information Sources
• Links to Other Valuable Sites

Sites Recommended with Reservations
These major sites are mostly reliable but have "blind spots" that damage their credibility. Their reliable parts can be very useful, but some parts should be disregarded or viewed with caution.

• About.com (avoid information on "complementary" and "alternative" methods)
• Arthritis Foundation (avoid information on "complementary" and "alternative" methods)
• HealthFinder (avoid information on "complementary" and "alternative" methods)
• Healthology (to be posted)
• National Health Information Clearinghouse (to be posted)
• Tufts Navigator (not critical enough of sites with bad information)
• WebMD Health (articles related to "complementary and alternative medicine" are highly misleading)

Nonrecommended Major Sites
Each of these sites provides a huge amount of information, most or all of which promotes unsubstantiated theories and/or methods. They may be useful to researchers seeking descriptions of these theories and methods from their proponents. However, they should be avoided by persons seeking high-quality information on which to base a health-related decision.

• Alternative Medicine Digest
• Ask Dr. Weil
• Blended Medicine
• Doctors Medical Library
• HealingPeople.com
• Healthmap.com
• Health World
• Healthshop.com
• Healthwell.com
• Leading Edge International Research Group
• Mercola.com
• MotherNature.com
• OneBody.com
• PlanetRx
• Prevention Magazine
• SelfCare
• SupplementWatch
• VitalCast.com
• vitaminbuzz
• WholeHealthMD

Nonrecommended Minor Sites

• American Osteopathic Association
• Ask the Doctor Online
• DoctorYourself.com
• Dynamite Marketing
• Dr. Whitaker.com
• Food and Healing
• Free Enterprise Health Mine
• The Good Doctor
• HealthWatchers System
• International Health Foundation
• NutritionalTest.com
• Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Center for Alternative and Complementary Medicine (Columbia University)
• ScienceBased Health
• Vitamin Counsel
• World Health Products

Additional Information

• Ten Worst Sites for Internet Health Information (to be posted)
• The Millenium Project: Links to hundreds of sites the webmaster considers "offensive."